Expelling the temptation from her mind, Mia returned to her mission and tiptoed outside.
The sun was just rising and the air was crisp and fresh. Everything was quiet, apart from the quaint sound of the birds chirping their morning song. It was a magical time of day: not quite night, but not quite morning. While the rest of the castle slept unawares, Mia strolled into the gardens. She felt like she was the only person in the whole world. The world belonged to her.
She inhaled deeply, welcoming the new day. As she wandered around the flower beds, she saw them in a new light. Today they were alive – as alive as she was. In fact, everything around the gardens seemed to breathe and flourish in a glorious state of undisturbed beauty.
And then she saw him. Another form of unspoilt nature, astonishingly beautiful in a way that she had never known before.
It was Colt.
He lay on his back beneath a weeping willow tree. His hands were raised above his heart, palms facing skyward. Just inches above his hands, pink blossom petals hovered and danced in a gentle, rhythmic motion.
Mia watched the scene, admiring him. She had never witnessed anyone so at one, so at peace. And to see him, whom she had feared enormously, lie so docile and connected to the earth – it was quite extraordinary.
A soft breeze embraced his skin and tousled his dark hair across his brow. His eyes were closed and his body was incredibly still; it was as if he were a painting.
Everything about him drew Mia to him. She couldn’t resist stepping closer. She had to be closer.
‘You know,’ said Colt, the abruptness of his voice startling her, ‘a lesser fool than I would kill you now.’
Mia froze. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.’
Colt carried on, oblivious to her apology – or disregarding it at any rate. ‘You’d be wise to not approach a Hunter, no matter how compelling. Some will lure you in this way, looking for a kill.’ His eyes remained closed as he spoke, the blossom still playing above his hands.
‘Is that what you were doing?’ Mia asked. ‘Looking for a kill?’ She knew she should be nervous, but for some reason she wasn’t.
‘No,’ Colt replied. ‘I’m meditating. Or, at least, I was meditating.’ He opened his eyes and the pink blossom petals sprinkled down over his body. Tilting his head towards her, he fixed her with a glare. ‘Well?’ he said.
‘Well, what?’
‘Well, what do you want?’ Colt demanded.
Much to his irritation, she sat down on the grass.
‘Why are you sitting?’ he exclaimed. ‘Go away!’
‘Maybe we could talk?’ Mia suggested coyly. She hadn’t expected to bump into him, but now that she had, it seemed like an opportunity had presented itself. After all, Colt was the only one willing to help her gain knowledge of her powers. He wasn’t exactly eager, but at least he wasn’t morally obligated to withhold information.
‘I don’t like to talk,’ he replied bluntly. Still lying on the grass, he eyed her mistrustfully.
‘Then I’ll talk,’ Mia proposed.
‘I don’t like you to talk, either.’
Mia didn’t move. She smiled at him.
Colt groaned. ‘Why me?’
‘It’s about your powers,’ she explained, taking his response as her cue to begin. ‘Actually, it’s about my powers.’
Colt didn’t respond.
‘I need your help,’ Mia told him. She shuffled closer until she was beside him, peering down at his face.
Colt recoiled sharply. ‘Too close!’
Mia shuffled back. ‘Can you help me?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’ she sighed.
‘Because I don’t want to.’
‘Please.’ Mia clasped her hands together. ‘Please, please, please!’
Now Colt sat upright. He looked at her, thoroughly mystified. ‘Have you got a death wish? I could snap your neck without even laying a finger on you. It would be easy – and fun. And do you know how much remorse I would feel?’
‘Some?’ Mia guessed hopefully.
‘None,’ he corrected.
‘Well,’ Mia held her ground, ‘maybe I think it’s worth the risk.’
Colt pressed his fingers to his eyelids and muttered something under his breath. ‘Fine,’ he growled. ‘One question.’ His sullen green eyes locked on her intensely.
‘OK,’ she granted. ‘Go ahead.’
Colt slapped his hand to his head. ‘No! You can ask me one question!’
‘Oh. Right.’ She began to ponder it. If she only had one question, it would have to be a good one.
‘But first of all,’ Colt added, ‘take your hair down.’
Mia ran her fingers along her ponytail. ‘Why?’
Flinching, Colt wrinkled his nose. ‘There’s a cut on your neck,’ he told her.
Mia touched her throat. She was aware that she had suffered a few scrapes as a result of her fall the day before. ‘And?’ she pressed, confused.
‘I can see it. And smell it. It’s…rousing.’
‘What – are you a vampire or something?’ Mia laughed, although the sound of it was a little tense.
He rolled his eyes. ‘No, of course not. But I like the taste of blood.’
With that unnerving reality check, Mia untied her ponytail and let her silken brown hair cascade down like a waterfall.
Colt clenched his teeth. ‘Actually, that’s worse!’
‘Why?’ Mia patted at her hair, unsure whether to leave it loose or pull it back up.
Colt pressed his hand firmly over his mouth and nose. ‘Because I can smell your scent!’ he shouted through his fingers. ‘Get back!’
Mia scrambled several feet away from him. ‘How’s this?’ she asked in a raised voice. She sat cross-legged on a patch of grass, her hair tumbling over her shoulders.
Cautiously, Colt dropped his hand down to the ground. ‘Better,’ he confirmed, adjusting to the aroma in the air. ‘It’s somewhat diluted.’
Mia stared at him for a moment. ‘What did it smell like?’ she asked before she could stop herself.
Colt grimaced. ‘It smelled like you.’
Mia frowned. ‘And that’s a bad thing?’
Absent-mindedly, Colt trailed his index finger along his lips. ‘I’m not sure.’ He deliberated for a second. ‘Sometimes I thrive off it. Sometimes I despise it.’
Her eyebrows drew together. ‘Do you often smell me?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘You’re everywhere.’
‘How did I get everywhere?’
Colt let out a tired sigh. ‘Well, most memorably, we had three days of your bothersome rain.’ He scrunched up his nose at the memory. ‘But I believe I first picked up your scent in the forest.’
With everything that had happened lately, Mia had almost forgotten about her very first encounter with Colt, when she and Kizzy had been drawn into the forest. ‘So you did know I was there,’ she realised quietly.
‘Of course I knew you were there! I’m a supreme Hunter, and you are just a child!’
‘Hey!’ Mia protested. ‘You don’t look that much older than me!’
‘I don’t mean it in that context,’ Colt snapped. ‘You see, this is exactly what I mean – naivety,’ he groused to himself. ‘I’ve been alive for eighteen years. But I’ve also been a witch for eighteen years. You, however, were born only yesterday as a witch.’
‘I wasn’t born yesterday,’ Mia argued. She smiled to herself – it wasn’t often people got to use that phrase literally.
‘Fine. A week ago, then,’ Colt said dispassionately. ‘What’s the difference? You don’t even know how to use your power yet!’
Mia folded her arms. ‘That’s why I’m here. If you’re so fantastic, why don’t you show me how it’s done?’
‘I am fantastic,’ Colt agreed casually. ‘I’m unparalleled.’
‘And you’re your own biggest fan,’ Mia remarked under her breath.
?
??It seems to me that you’re my biggest fan,’ he retorted with a snide smile. ‘Anyway, as I said – one question.’
Mia gazed up to the sky, contemplating the perfect question. She needed to include everything that she wanted to know in one statement.
‘I’m waiting,’ Colt reminded her.
‘I’m thinking,’ Mia shot back.
‘Then I should warn you that I’m also imposing a time limit.’
‘Of course you are,’ Mia grumbled, hardly surprised by the revelation.
‘Ten seconds,’ Colt announced.
‘That’s not fair!’
‘No, darling, what’s not fair is your clinging on to me like a limpet.’
Mia glowered at him. ‘It doesn’t matter, anyway. I have my question.’
‘I’m on the edge of my seat,’ Colt said with a yawn.
‘My question is,’ she declared meaningfully, ‘how do I control the air?’
‘That’s very vague,’ Colt pointed out.
‘But it’s what I want to know.’
‘Well, it’s subjective,’ Colt reasoned. ‘What works for me may not work for you.’
‘I understand. I still want to know,’ Mia hurried him along, banking on the hope that what worked for him would indeed work for her, too.
‘You need to be in tune with nature, to the point where you are nature. Think with your soul, not with your head. Will it so. Watch.’ He raised his palm to her and sent a light breeze through her hair, purposefully pushing the strands back and exposing her throat. His eyes drifted to the graze on her neck. ‘Just a peek,’ he told her with a devilish wink. Then he drew his hand back towards his chest, commanding the breeze to flick her hair back to its original position.
Mia inhaled the air deeply. Her lips parted as she exhaled. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Colt staring at her mouth. It made her incredibly self-conscious.
‘Stop looking at me!’ she scolded him.
‘No.’
‘You’re making me lose concentration,’ she accused.
‘That’s the problem,’ Colt responded huffily. ‘You’re thinking too much. It’s not about concentration. It’s simply about doing. About being.’
Mia ignored him and raised her hand in front of her. The cool air dusted her skin, but nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Move, she commanded silently, focusing on a scattering of pink blossoms.
‘Stop thinking!’ Colt yelled.
‘I can’t help it!’
‘You’re not getting anywhere! Cast your mind back to how you did it in the forest.’
‘OK,’ Mia agreed. Then she paused. ‘What did I do in the forest?’
Colt rolled his eyes. ‘You threw a jackdaw feather. That’s how I knew that you were a Tempestus. You directed a breeze to carry the feather.’
‘I did?’
‘Of course you did!’ he cried. ‘Did you never think to question how a wispy feather could fly like a steel arrow?’
‘I thought it was a lucky feather,’ she justified.
Colt fell backwards laughing.
Mia pouted. ‘Well, I still don’t know how I did it.’
‘You did it because you needed to,’ he explained, composing himself and sitting back upright. ‘You feared us and you wanted the feather to distract us. Am I correct?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted.
‘Use that fear. Use that need. Become it.’
‘Will you help me?’ Mia asked meekly.
‘No.’
‘But, we’ll speak again?’ she pressed.
‘I hope not.’ Colt smiled slightly. Then all of a sudden he tensed, like an animal under attack. ‘Lotan,’ he murmured. ‘Lotan is near,’ he told Mia. ‘Go!’ His eyes were filled with sudden urgency.
Mia rose to her feet.
‘Go faster!’ Colt hissed. And with a swift raise of his hand, he enveloped her in a forceful gust of air, propelling her backwards.
She landed several metres away, her fall cushioned by a cluster of leaves. Dazed, Mia sat up among the foliage, but when she looked back to the willow tree Colt was gone.
Mia returned to the castle with a spring in her step. It was still early, but she guessed that the others would be up and about by now. She trotted along the corridor and peeked around the drawing-room door. Sure enough, several Arcana were dotted around the room, polishing off plates of buttered toast. Mia spotted Dino, Kizzy and Blue congregated in the far corner of the room.
Dino, look at me, Mia thought. And to her surprise, he did. Kizzy and Blue turned, too.
From the doorway, Mia beckoned them to her.
The little group rose from their seats and quietly made their exit. They followed Mia along the narrow corridor until they reached the library. Mia jostled them into the unoccupied room and closed the door behind them.
In the windowless library, the musty smell of books and centuries of candle smoke lingered in the air. Mia quickly lit a candle to illuminate the dim room. Then she turned to face the others, her face aglow in the candlelight.
‘I have to tell you something,’ she began. ‘I can’t keep it to myself any longer.’
The others waited for her to elaborate, their expressions eager.
‘I’m a Tempestos,’ she announced proudly.
‘You’re asbestos?’ Dino frowned. ‘I think we had that in the roof once.’
‘No,’ said Mia, rolling her eyes at him. ‘Not asbestos, dummy. Tempestos.’
Blue cleared his throat. ‘Actually, I-I think the word is, Tempestus.’
Mia waved her hand. ‘Same thing. Anyway, I’m one.’
Kizzy began clapping. ‘Congratulations!’
Mia beamed. ‘I can influence the elements! Can you believe it?’
‘How did you figure it out?’ Kizzy asked.
‘Someone told me,’ she replied evasively. For some reason, she felt reluctant to divulge any information about her interactions with Colt. She feared that her alliance with a Hunter would be a taboo issue.
But Kizzy didn’t give up that easily. ‘Who told you?’
‘Some guy,’ Mia said casually. ‘But that’s not important. The important thing is, I’m a Tempestos!’
‘Tempestus,’ Blue corrected her again quietly.
Tol! Dino suddenly thought, reminded of the sinister man he had encountered the night before. ‘Who was the guy?’
‘Just a guy,’ Mia answered.
‘Older?’ Dino pressed.
Mia thought back to her conversation with Colt. He had told her that he was eighteen, which made him two years her senior. ‘A little older,’ she replied.
Dino felt his stomach knot. Instantly he concluded that Tol had found Mia and offered her the promise of power, just as he had done with Dino. And Mia had fallen for it.
‘Did he tell you his name?’ Dino asked her.
Mia glared at him, irritably. ‘What does it matter what his name was?’
‘It matters,’ he stated. ‘Some strange guy appears out of nowhere and tells you that you’ve got a kick-ass power. You don’t think that’s a little off?’
Mia blanked him out. ‘Can you imagine,’ she gushed to Kizzy and Blue. ‘I can control the elements! Me!’
‘Wow!’ Kizzy cheered. ‘Show us something.’
Mia shifted her weight from left to right. ‘Well,’ she fiddled with a thread on her top, ‘I can’t exactly do it yet. But I’m working on it. And the guy I met, I think he’s going to help me.’
‘Are you insane?’ Dino spluttered. ‘I hate to burst your little bubble, but this freak is scamming you. He’s making you believe that you have a power and that he can help you, but it’s all a con to trap you!’
‘That’s not it at all!’ Mia protested.
‘How can you be such an idiot?’ he exclaimed.
‘Perhaps I am an idiot. An idiot to think that my brother would be pleased for me.’
Dino shook his head solemnly. ‘If you are so blind to think that this man has got your best
interests–’
‘Maybe you’re jealous because you want to be the only one with a power,’ she challenged, cutting him off. ‘In fact, you said it yourself, didn’t you? You hope I never get a power,’ she recounted his words from the night before.
Dino narrowed his eyes. ‘Suit yourself. Act like a reckless little kid if you want. But don’t come crying to me when it all blows up in your face. You’re on your own.’
Mia held his gaze. ‘I’m not on my own,’ she shot back. ‘I don’t need you.’ She turned to Kizzy. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Kizzy looked between the siblings. ‘Guys, don’t leave it like this. Can you sort it out?’
‘Ask him,’ Mia thumbed towards Dino. ‘He’s the jealous one.’
He scoffed. ‘I would never be jealous of you!’
‘Then you’re just plain nasty,’ she replied hotly. Without another word, she turned and stormed into the corridor. Kizzy followed, leaving the boys alone in the library.
Dino looked sceptically at Blue. ‘Why did you encourage her? You really think she’s this asbestos thing?’
‘Tempestus.’ Blue shrugged diplomatically. ‘Maybe.’
‘No way.’
‘What makes you s-so sure she’s n-not?’
‘Because it’s all too convenient, if you ask me,’ Dino mused. ‘She met a guy and he told her what she wanted to hear.’
‘Possibly,’ Blue agreed. ‘But maybe he t-told her the t-truth. What reason would someone in the Glass Castle have to l-lie to her? What would they have to gain?’
‘Exactly!’ Dino concurred, as though Blue had made a point rather than asked a question. ‘And I know just the culprit.’
Blue’s honey-coloured eyes rounded. ‘Who?’
‘Something happened last night,’ Dino explained, ‘when I was out looking for Mia.’
Blue’s cynical expression altered to intrigue.
Dino carried on, ‘This foul, shifty-looking guy showed up out of nowhere, telling me about my power and asking me to join him.’
‘What?’ Blue furrowed his brow. ‘Who?’
‘He called himself Tol.’ As Dino spoke the man’s name, the flame of a nearby candle flickered agitatedly.
The boys eyed it, unnerved by its movement.
Then Blue spoke, ‘I’ve been at the Glass Castle for a y-year, and I’ve never met anyone called T-Tol. What did he look like?’